Katatonia

shark22

RuffRyda
Oct 18, 2004
825
0
16
Well, I have heard of this band but have not yet actually heard thier songs yet! What do they sound like, are they like Opeth?
 
Quite boring, if you ask me. Closer to Anathema than Opeth... though their new material also has a touch of nu-metal.
 
I don't know why everyone says they sound like Opeth. Seriously, in many cases you have to really listen deep and make stretches to hear any similarities, and at least with the last few albums I don't hear Opeth except vaguely once or twice in the entire disc. To me that doesn't make the bands similar.

For example, I don't consider Opeth like Megadeth yet there are a few select places (the solo, solo riff, and especially riff in between the solos in White Cluster) where Opeth sound like Megadeth.

Katatonia's first few are doom, and their last few albums are a little more atmospheric, it is very accessible, the vocals are clean everywhere (except one or two backing tracks). The production on Viva Emptiness far outstrips that of Last Fair Deal Gone Down, and of newer Katatonia I would definitely recommend Viva Emptiness. Katatonia has also become a perfect example of a band which could so easily break out of the 'underground' if they had support. Honestly if Katatonia were on RR, "Criminals" which is a great song could easily be a prominent radio hit. They've pretty much become alt-metal with some progressive elements, with an incredible weight and gloom to their music. Very much an atmosphere of depression. I really dig Katatonia.

Oh, one more glaring diff. between Opeth and Katatonia is Katatonia increasingly has the verse-chorus-verse structure in a lot of their songs, very straightforward in terms of sequencing.

Incidentally, if you go to www.katatonia.com and go to the 'Releases' section you can download samples of tracks from most of their albums. I would suggest listening to all the samples, they do a decent job of letting you hear good portions of the song (the Criminals sample for example features the first vers, pre, and then most of the chorus). I suggest you also check out Anathema's "A Natural Disaster".

I'm not even going to touch that 'thrash' comment.
 
annt said:
Quite boring, if you ask me. Closer to Anathema than Opeth... though their new material also has a touch of nu-metal.

Are you fucking deaf???

You need to learn what Nu Metal is!

Katatonia is Dark Rock, but it's heart is in the metal genre. I'd reccommend the album Brave Murder Day to start with then move both forwards and back.

*scampers back to the Katatonia board*
 
Well... One thing they have in common is that both bands are from Sweden. ;)

If you want to listen to some of their heavier stuff, I'd recommend "Dance of December Souls", which is my favorite album. For some reason the first album I hear from a band most of the time seem to get stuck as my favorite album. That is the case with Katatonia (DoDS), Opeth (Orchid), Nightingale (The Breathing Shadow) and many others. Don't know why that is.
 
Jinn said:
Are you fucking deaf???

You need to learn what Nu Metal is!

Katatonia is Dark Rock, but it's heart is in the metal genre. I'd reccommend the album Brave Murder Day to start with then move both forwards and back.

*scampers back to the Katatonia board*


I wasn't being exactly 100% serious with the nu-metal thing... but I think nowadays they are quite simple and somewhat "trendy". And I don't think they have much in common with Opeth. Saw You Drown is a nice song though.
 
For example, I don't consider Opeth like Megadeth yet there are a few select places (the solo, solo riff, and especially riff in between the solos in White Cluster) where Opeth sound like Megadeth.

Yet another reason why I thought they went downhill on SL, wow comparing them to Megadeth. No wonder I never got into the SL album. :)
 
shark22 said:
Yet another reason why I thought they went downhill on SL, wow comparing them to Megadeth. No wonder I never got into the SL album. :)

Umm, I am in no way comparing Opeth and Megadeth. :) Just saying there are a very select few sections which sound similar. I think Opeth is a much better band than Morbid Angel for example, but there's still parts that sound similar.
 
They are much better than Opeth, but who's comparing?? :cool:

The music is superior (exceptional writing skills, equal to Swano), the lyrics are more thought-provoking, and Jonas sings with more passion than Mikael. Don't get me wrong, I love Opeth, but when compared to Katatonia, there's no competition really...
 
I've only heard /Viva Emptiness/ which is sort of mellow, but I really like it.

I've meant to check out their other stuff, including BMD w/ M. Akerfeld on vocals, but havn't had time yet.
 
I would just like to state that "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" is an utter masterpiece -- the world would be a better place if everyone owned it. As it stands, the world is indeed a great place because of its existance.